Spell Binding, Inspiring Silly, GreatGreat, Unique, Thrilling Playful, Real, Wonderful Heartbreaking, Magical, Funny Dry, Romantic, Stories,Stories Dry, Illuminating, Riveting, Shocking Terrifying, Powerful, Sly Eye-Opening, Uncovered,Uncovered Silly, Funny Witty, Captivating, Funny London 2021 Rights Guide New Releases Fiction & Non-Fiction CONTENTS FICTION General Fiction Harlequin Fiction NON-FICTION General Non-fiction Harlequin Non-fiction True Crime Cookery & Lifestyle Biography & Autobiography Sport History & Popular Science Health & Wellbeing Parenting GENERAL ENQUIRIES If you are interested in any of the titles in this Rights Guide or would like further information, please contact us: Elizabeth O’Donnell Head of International Rights and Business Development HarperCollins Publishers (ANZ) t: +61 2 9952 5475 e: [email protected] HarperCollins Publishers Australia Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000 PO Box A565, Sydney South NSW 1235 AUSTRALIA GENERAL FICTION THE TRUTH ABOUT HER JACQUELINE MALEY How can you write other people's stories, when you won't admit the truth of your own? An absorbing, moving, ruefully tender, witty and Hilarious, wise novel of marriage, motherhood and the paths we navigate through both, for fans of Ann Patchett and Anne Tyler. Manuscript available April 2021 | 368pp | 234x153mm Eye-opening, Paperback | ISBN 9781460759165 Journalist and single mother Suzy Hamilton gets a phone call one summer morning, and finds out that the subject of one of her investigative exposes, 25-year-old wellness blogger Tracey Doran, has killed herself overnight. Suzy is horrified by this news but copes in the only way she knows how – through work, mothering, and carrying on with her ill-advised, tandem affairs. Terrifying, The consequences of her actions catch up with Suzy over the course of a sticky Sydney summer. She starts receiving anonymous vindictive letters and is pursued by Tracey's mother wanting her, as a kind of rough justice, to tell Tracey's story, but this time, the right way. A tender, absorbing, intelligent and moving exploration of guilt, shame, female anger, and, in particular, mothering, with all its trouble and treasure, The Truth About Her is mostly though a story about the nature of stories - who owns them, who gets to tell them, and why we need them. An Lovely, entirely striking, stylish and contemporary novel, from a talented new writer. PRAISE ‘I loved The Truth About Her. It's an intelligent, compelling, nuanced tale of guilt, culpability, pride, shame and atonement. But most of all, it's a love letter to daughters, from the mothers who raise them. An astoundingly good debut’ – Annabel Crabb Funny, ‘Heartfelt, funny and will resonate with many readers. This tender, witty and beautifully written novel is for fans of Georgia Blain, Charlotte Wood and Ann Patchett’ – Books+Publishing ‘Read the first sentence of Jacqueline Maley’s debut novel, and you will be in it until the end. Electrifying, deeply unsettling and so, so satisfying. And, if you've ever tried to manage the sharp end of a career with the blunt demands of parenthood, fiercely recognisable’ – Meg Mason, author of Wonderful, Sorrow and Bliss Jacqueline Maley is a columnist and senior writer for the Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers, where she writes about politics, people and social affairs. She has also worked on staff at The Guardian in London and at The Australian Financial Review, as well as contributing to numerous other publications including Gourmet Traveller and Marie Claire. In 2016 she won the Fiction Titles Kennedy Award for Outstanding Columnist. She lives in Sydney with her daughter and partner. Rights Held: World English and translation GENERAL FICTION GENERAL FICTION THE BEAUTIFUL WORDS THE VALLEY OF LOST VANESSA MCCAUSLAND STORIES VANESSA MCCAUSLAND Two best friends, one summer night, and twenty years of silence … what happened at the lighthouse? Beautiful, beguiling and treacherous … Big Little Lies meets Picnic at Hanging Rock in a secluded Manuscript available October 2021 valley over the Blue Mountains. December 2021 | Xpp | 234x153mm Manuscript available Paperback | ISBN 9781460759585 416pp | 234x153mm Paperback | ISBN 9781460759561 Sylvie is a lover of words and a collector of stories, only she has lost her own. She has no words for Four women and their children are invited to the beautiful but remote Capertee Valley, west of the that night at the lighthouse when their lives changed forever. What happened to cleave her apart Blue Mountains. from her best friend and soulmate, Kase? Once home to a burgeoning mining industry, now all that remains are ruins slowly being swallowed Sylvie yearns to rekindle their deep connection, so when Kase invites her to the wild Tasmanian by the bush and the jewel of the valley, a stunning, renovated Art Deco hotel. This is a place haunted coast to celebrate her 40th birthday, she accepts – despite the ghosts she must face. by secrets. In 1948 Clara Black walked into the night, never to be seen again. As Sylvie struggles to find her feet among old friends, she bonds with local taxi boat driver As the valley beguiles these four friends, and haunts them in equal measure, each has to confront Holden. But he is hiding from the world, too. secrets of her own: Nathalie, with a damaged marriage; Emmie, yearning for another child; Pen, Through an inscription in an old book, Sylvie and Kase discover their mothers have a history, struggling as a single parent; and Alexandra, hiding in the shadow of her famous husband. hidden from their daughters. As they unpick what took place before they were born, they’re forced But as the mystery of what happened seventy years earlier unravels, one of the women also vanishes to face the cracks in their own friendship, and the question of whether it’s ever okay to keep a into this bewitching but wild place, forcing devastating truths to the surface. secret to protect the person you love. PRAISE FOR THE LOST SUMMERS OF DRIFTWOOD Vanessa McCausland’s enthralling new novel is about betrayal and forgiveness, the stories we tell, and the healing power of words. ‘McCausland is a natural storyteller who weaves love, loss, mystery and secrets into a satisfying tale’ – Herald Sun PRAISE ‘Full of mystery and romance, this is the perfect atmospheric summer read’ – Who Weekly ‘McCausland is a natural storyteller’ – Herald Sun Vanessa McCausland studied English at Sydney University and has worked as a journalist for Vanessa McCausland studied English at The University of Sydney and has worked as a journalist nearly 20 years. Her writing has appeared in the Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald, news. for nearly 20 years. Her writing has appeared in The Daily Telegraph, The Sydney Morning Herald, com.au, Mamamia, Body+Soul, and Kidspot.com.au. She is currently a contributing editor at news.com.au, Mamamia, Body+Soul, and Kidspot.com.au. She is currently a contributing editor News Corp. Vanessa lives in Sydney with her husband and daughter. at News Corp. Vanessa lives in Sydney with her husband and daughter. Rights Held: World English and translation Rights Held: World English and translation GENERAL FICTION GENERAL FICTION THE DYING DIPLOMATS’ HEARTS OF GOLD CLUB: A NICK & LA JACKIE FRENCH CONTESSA MYSTERY Three women from very different backgrounds, MATTHEW BENNS bound by friendship, separated by destiny. A brand new mystery featuring Nick and La Manuscript available October 2021 Contessa, the beloved characters from Matthew Benns’ smash hit nationwide newspaper serial. December 2021 | 352pp | 234x153mm | Paperback | ISBN 9781460757925 Manuscript available June 2021 | 288pp | 234x153mm Paperback | ISBN 9781460760185 ‘Time for a martini, darling?’ It was impossible, but in full view of the church, the Governor, and wedding guests … Wise-cracking, cocktail-swilling detective duo Nick Moore and his glamorous Italian wife, La The bride had vanished. Contessa, receive a last minute invitation from the Prime Minster to a glamorous but intimate Some girls are born to be loved, some are born to be useful. dinner party at Kirribilli House on New Year’s Eve. Some girls are born to be bad. The intriguing guestlist includes several top diplomats, a casino billionaire, a dodgy bookie, a controversial doctor, a social media influencer and, of course, Nick and La Contessa’s trusty beagle, Indulged and wealthy Kat Fitzhubert is seemingly ‘sold off’ in an arranged marriage in a colony Baxter. across the world. Lady Viola Montefiore is the dark-skinned 'changeling' of a ducal family, kept hidden and then shipped away. Titania Boot is as broad as a carthorse, and as useful. But a dramatic revelation from the PM sets off more fireworks inside than outside ... and that’s before the bodies start to pile up. In the turmoil of an Australia in 1853 that reinvents itself from convict colony to a land of gold, one woman forges a business empire. One brews illegal poteen with a bushranger. And the third As suspicion falls on some of the most powerful people in the country, the race is on. Can Nick and vanishes on her wedding day, in a scandal that will mystify the world. La Contessa solve the case before anyone else joins the dying diplomats’ club? In this magnificent and broad-sweeping saga, Jackie French defies the myth of colonial women Bonus story included! Go back to where it all began with Nick and La Contessa’s first adventure in as ‘merely’ wives, servants or whores. Instead portraying them as business women, farmers, the smash hit newspaper serial We’re All In This Together. bushrangers and brewers of illegal poteen, as well as arbiters of their destiny. PRAISE ‘Down Under’s funniest detectives shoot from the lip with a wit as dry as their martinis’ – Kathy Lette Matthew Benns has spent his career as a journalist chasing and exposing some of the biggest Jackie French AM is an award-winning author, historian and ecologist.